Oh Darling

Brave the Sound

Brave the Sound

(Oh Darling)US: 26 Apr 2011UK: Import

Oh Darling have landed on the soundtrack to Disney’s Prom and on the airwaves at places like the Gap. These are a couple of fitting venues for the band’s shiny, New Wave-influenced pop songs. On its third album, Brave the Sound, Oh Darling has mastered the sound and production to present alternately jangly and metronomic guitars, a muscular rhythm section that recalls Blondie, and ultra-girlie vocals from Jasmine Ash.

The more starry-eyed it gets, the better Brave the Sound is. “Gonna Be Yours” and “Great Getaway” are satisfyingly dreamy, and “Leave the Light On” has a sharp rock’n'roll edge that recalls the best of the Go-Gos. However, too much of the album falls by the wayside, with more crunchy arrangements that fail to distinguish themselves. You might get to second base with Brave the Sound, but you won’t go all the way.

Brave the Sound

John Bergstrom has been writing various reviews and features for PopMatters since 2004. He has been a music fanatic at least since he and a couple friends put together The Rock Group Dictionary in third grade (although he now admits that giving Pat Benatar the title of "first good female rocker" was probably a mistake). He has done freelance writing for Trouser Pressonline, Milwaukee's Shepherd Express, and the late Milk magazine and website. He currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife and two kids, both of whom are very good dancers.